US Defense Secretary James Mattis warned North Korea on Friday that any nuclear attack by North Korea would trigger an “effective and overwhelming”.

“Any attack on the United States or our allies will be defeated and any use of nuclear weapons would be met with a response that would be effective and overwhelming,” Mattis said in Seoul as he sought to reassure Asian allies rattled by President Donald Trump’s isolationist rhetoric.

Mattis was in the South Korean capital before going on to Tokyo, on the first overseas tour by a senior Trump administration official as concerns rise about the direction of US policy in the region under the protectionist and fiery leader.

South Korea has enjoyed US security protection since the 1950-53 Korean War, but on the campaign trail, Trump threatened to withdraw US forces from it and Japan if they do not step up their financial support.

Some 28,500 US troops are based in South Korea to defend it against the nuclear-armed North, and 47,000 in Japan.

Pyongyang was continuing to “engage in threatening rhetoric and behavior”, said Mattis, who first came to the South in 1972 as a 21-year-old lieutenant in the US military.

Mattis was in Seoul to “underscore America’s priority commitment to our bilateral alliance” and make clear the administration’s “full commitment” to defending South Korea’s democracy,” he told reporters ahead of a meeting with his South Korean counterpart Han Min-Koo.

Han said that the alliance “reaffirms its firm will and strength to remain unwavering against all challenges and adversaries”.

Source: AFP